… and here is photographic evidence.
… and Sky answer that question with footage of the mark Tel made on the side of Ampadu’s face. I am now convinced by the penalty decision.
I’m still not totally convinced by the penalty decision. I just haven’t seen a replay that makes it clear that Tel actually made contact with Ampadu, and if he didn’t I think it should only have been an indirect free kick.
Also displaying lightning reflexes: Jacob Steinberg, who has already filed his match report from the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium!
The story should have been about Mathys Tel deciding it was time to unfurl the brilliance that took the French forward to Bayern Munich when he was a teenager. Tottenham were closing in on survival when the 21-year-old broke the deadlock against Leeds United but Roberto De Zerbi has been in north London long enough to know nothing is straightforward when his team play at home.
Disaster was on the way, Tel’s wild challenge on Ethan Ampadu allowing Dominic Calvert-Lewin to equalise from the spot. Tottenham, who have not won at home in the league since December, had missed the chance to move four points clear of 18th-placed West Ham with two games to play. It is likely that this shootout for survival with West Ham will come down to whether Tottenham can win when they host Everton on the final day.
Much more here:
What a save that was by Kinsky from Longstaff. When you watch replays at full speed you can’t even see it, so fast was the ball travelling. Only in slow motion can you appreciate those spectacular reflexes.
The bottom of the Premier League looks like this:
| Pos | Team | P | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 16 | Nottm Forest | 36 | -2 | 43 |
| 17 | Tottenham Hotspur | 36 | -9 | 38 |
| 18 | West Ham | 36 | -20 | 36 |
| 19 | Burnley | 36 | -36 | 21 |
| 20 | Wolverhampton | 36 | -41 | 18 |
Final score: Tottenham 1-1 Leeds
90+16 mins: It felt like Spurs could have taken infinite corners without creating anything, and their 14th doesn’t do anything that the other 13 didn’t. And that’s it!
90+15 mins: That corner is headed behind by a Leeds player, so in fact there’ll be one more corner for Spurs.
90+15 mins: Rodon gets in the way of a Richarlison shot, and there’ll be one more corner for Spurs.
90+14 mins: There’s a very slight touch on the ball that saves the defender, and Spurs will have to make do with a corner.
90+13 mins: Maddison goes down in the area, and Spurs want a penalty! The referee doesn’t give anything, but VAR is back in action!
90+12 mins: Kolo Muani wins a throw-in, and Danso runs over to do the honours. His long throw drops to Palhinha, who shoots straight into a defender, the ball deflecting wide for a corner.
90+10 mins: And another chance for Longstaff! This time a left-wing cross finds its way to him beyond the far post, and any shot on target would probably have gone in. But he can’t produce one!
90+9 mins: It’s Longstaff, played into the area on the left side of goal, and he hammers a shot high towards the near post. Kinsky has almost no time to react but react he does, flinging up his right arm and deflecting the ball onto the woodwork!
Updated
90+8 mins: Leeds hit the bar! And it’s an astonishingly good save!
90+8 mins: Gallagher has the ball in the Leeds area but can’t deicde what to do with it, so in the end he gives it away, and the referee gives Leeds a free kick for some reason.
90+7 mins: Spurs win another corner, their 10th. I think they’ve won one header from those 10 corners.
90+5 mins: De Zerbi gets a yellow card for losing his cool after Ampadu fouls two Spurs players in two seconds, right in front of him.
90+4 mins: Another Leeds substitution: Tanaka goes off, and Sean Longstaff comes on.
90+3 mins: The ball drops to Bergvall on the edge of the area, but he fluffs his volley pretty badly, and the ball loops gently over the goal.
90+2 mins: And another corner. The fans have rediscovered their voice now!
90 mins: Tottenham win a corner as the clock ticks into stoppage time and the fourth official raises his board: 13 added minutes!
88 mins: Van de Ven goes down under Ampadu’s challenge and catches the ball as he goes. Leeds get a free kick for the handball.
85 mins: He’s back! James Maddison comes on to taste his first action of the season, replacing Tel. And Spence replaces Udogie.
Updated
85 mins: A couple of emails on the penalty decision: “Obviously biased as a Spurs fan but I think it was certainly a decision that can be argued with,” writes Alexandra Ashton. “The overhead kick is dangerous, but I don’t think he makes real contact with Ampadu, maybe just a slight brush: Ampadu has no instant reaction after the perceived contact and only afterwards begins throwing his hands up (to clutch the top of his head even, not the chin where Tel’s foot was near) and grimacing. Ultimately, Tel didn’t see anything, couldn’t have known anything, and the contact was minimal at best. But I’m not a VAR, so who knows.” And from Rob: “Why on earth attempt a flying overhead kick on the edge of your penalty area??? head the ball away!!! One of the dumbest penalties I have ever seen.”
82 mins: Another booking, this one for Porro, who tried to win the ball but his foot ran over the top of it and onto Justin’s foot.
81 mins: Spurs bring Bergvall on for Bentancur.
81 mins: What a block! Gnonto passes to Nmecha, inside the penalty area, but his left-footed shot finds Van de Ven in the way.
79 mins: A yellow card for Rodon. And if the decisive blow has yet to be landed here, it looks like it might have happened across town at Millwall:
77 mins: It’s all gone very quiet. The stakes are high and the quality is, well, variable, and the combination is not good for the nerves.
GOAL! Tottenham 1-1 Leeds (Calvert-Lewin, 74 mins)
And Spurs let the lead slip! It’s an absolute beauty of a penalty from Calvert-Lewin, hard, high and into the side netting.
Updated
73 mins: Calvert-Lewin will take the penalty …
Penalty to Leeds!
73 mins: Tel, scorer of the Spurs goal, has conceded a penalty. I think it’s harsh, but not inexplicable. Alan Smith on Sky says “it’s difficult to argue with that decision, in fairness”.
71 mins: Jarred Gillett had been told to watch the replays for himself. This is looking bad for Spurs.
70 mins: I mean, he was kicked in the head, but by a player who seemed to check before attempting the overhead that nobody was coming to contest the ball, and would have had no idea that Ampadu was incoming at pace.
69 mins: Stach attempts to score with a left-foot volley, and profoundly fails to do so. The ball deflects into the air. Tel tries to overhead-kick clear just as Ampadu tries to head the ball, and the Leeds player goes down. Play stops while he gets treatment to a head injury, and VAR is checking for a possible penalty.
Updated
66 mins: A booking for Palhinha, for a foul on Nmecha that was not very violent but was quite two-footed.
63 mins: Two more changes for Leeds: James and Aaronson go off, and Gnonto and Nmecha come on.
61 mins: A nice little exchange of passes from Leeds, who work the ball in from the left, James touches to Calvert-Lewin, who pops it straight back again, and James shoots wide from 20 yards.
58 mins: Chance for a second! the ball is looped up towards Kolo Muani, who lifts it over Bornauw (who promptly falls over) and then squares to Richarlison. The ball comes to the Brazilian very quickly but the goal is largely unguarded and he only needs to hit the target. He does not.
56 mins: The first substitution of the night sees Leeds bring Sebastiaan Bornauw on for Struijk.
54 mins: “I feel like I have seen Tel try to take that shot and miss it at least two dozen times,” writes Matthew Carpenter-Arevalo. “Finally, it came off! “ Tel’s first goal of the season came against Leeds. Perhaps his last will also.
52 mins: That’s a tale of two gorgeous touches from Tel. The first kills the ball dead, the second sends it arcing beyond Darlow. His hasn’t been an overwhelming performance, but that was pure class.
GOAL! Tottenham 1-0 Leeds (Tel, 51 mins)
Tottenham have the lead! The corner is headed out to Tel on the edge of the area, and he curls a beauty into the far post!
Updated
50 mins: Having concentrated their attacking down the left in the first half, in the early minutes of the second Spurs have been looking right. This time, Kolo Muani wins a corner.
46 mins: Richarlison jumps for that pump forward and catches Bijol with a stray elbow. It’s unlikely that Richarlison can have seen him coming, but if the referee isn’t getting busy the Leeds physios are.
46 mins: Peeeep! Spurs kick off, roll back, and pump forward.
The players are back out and ready to roll. No halftimely substitutions to report.
“I realise that Leeds aren’t the story tonight, but I feel they haven’t been praised enough for their brilliant campaign,” writes Kari Tulinius. “I worried for them because they never seemed to have any luck, but they never got discouraged. When things go against a promoted side early on, heads start to droop and before long they’re circling the drain. Leeds played with verve and vim throughout the season.”
Their results since 1 December have been pretty extraordinary: for a newly-promoted side to have the seventh-best record in the division for most of the season – 22 games now, about to be 23 – and with fewer defeats than ever team except Manchester City, Manchester United, Bournemouth and Arsenal (with whom they’re level with four) is really something.
Also going on right now: the second leg of the Championship playoff between Millwall and Hull. They have now played three halves of football across the last four days and nobody has scored in any of them. Daniel Harris is watching it all happen:
Half time: Tottenham 0-0 Leeds
45+5 mins: The whistle blows and the half ends. Spurs have had 61.7% of possession and 10 of the 13 shots, but they need to step up the quality.
45+4 mins: Tel has seen a lot of the ball in this half, and done a couple of decent things with it (and quite a lot of less good ones). He gets a good chance to cross from the left, and loops the ball straight to Darlow.
45+2 mins: The offside decision is upheld, by a whisker. Two minutes of stoppage time were indicated and are almost up, but they have been entirely stoppage so perhaps we’ll get some more.
45 mins: Leeds want a penalty! They get an offside flag! Calvert-Lewin is played through by Tanaka at the end of a fine, swift move, and Udogie seems to drag him down by the arm. But the flag is up! VAR will of course check the offside, and then if necessary the penalty.
43 mins: Tel is brought down on the Spurs left, Stach standing briefly on top of his foot, goes down with a loud whelp, rolls around holding his ankle for a bit, and wins a free-kick.
41 mins: A yellow card! Danso trips Aaronson, less a foul than a really slow-witted tackle, and the referee takes his name.
40 mins: Tanaka lets the ball run across his body as it’s passed across the edge of the Spurs area until it’s in the perfect spot for a left-footed shot. Then he lets it run a bit further, and then he falls over trying to reach it and shoots way wide.
39 mins: This season Spurs have averaged five corners per Premier League match. They’ve just taken their sixth of the night. This one actually finds a Spurs head, but Bentancur sends it wide.
36 mins: What a chance for Joao Palhinha! Tel’s cross from the left is headed to the edge of the box by Bijol but Palhinha picks it up, cuts onto his left foot, takes it past a couple of defenders and then scoops it over the bar from about eight yards!
Updated
35 mins: “It’s not going to be a night for free-flowing, attractive football,” says Alan Smith on co-commentary. Give us something encouraging, Alan!
32 mins: Madness and chaos! Darlow is punished for holding on to the ball a bit too long, giving Spurs a corner and sending Farke into paroxysms on the touchline. The ball drops to Richarlison, who completely fluffs his shot when well placed, and then to Porro, who completely nails his when less well placed but it hits a defender.
32 mins: Chance! A ball in from the right falls to Richarlison, but his shot is weak and straight at Darlow.
31 mins: Kolo Muani is released down the right and sends in what would have been an excellent low cross had there only been any Spurs player anywhere near it.
30 mins: We have had a third of the time and it looks for all the world like a match between two sides that have been struggling near the foot of the table for much of the season.
28 mins: Danso flings a long throw into the box, Darlow pushes it to the edge of the area, and Gallagher has a volleyed effort that deflects wide for another corner.
26 mins: Now Tel does well! He cuts into the area, zags between Rodon and Tanaka, gets inside shooting range and then has an effort deflected wide.
25 mins: After a good start from Spurs, the last 10 minutes or so has been much less encouraging. “In yet another Premiership match, yet another manager (this time De Zerbi) proves my point that the time has come to put dog collars on errant coaches and pen them into technical zones using invisible fences,” writes Justin Kavanagh. “This stray-coach nonsense MUST end now, before someone gets hurt.”
23 mins: Stach goes down just outside the Spurs penalty area but the referee waves play on – replays show that he was caught by Gallagher – and Spurs break. The move ends with Tel, who’s having a bit of a stinker, struggling to work out what to do with the ball on the Spurs left wing, and eventually hitting it off a defender for a throw-in.
21 mins: Save! Now Leeds have a corner, which they more or less abstain from defending. It’s taken short to Aaronson and then crossed in to Rodon, whose header is dipping just inside the near post but Kinsky claws it out.
Updated
19 mins: What a cross from Mathys Tel! The bad news is it’s into his own penalty area, and it takes a desperate header from Danso to stop it being turned in. Tel had the ball on the Spurs left but James pestered him, forced him to run back and towards his own box, and eventually to desperately play the ball across it!
18 mins: Danso takes the ball away from Aaronson but just plays the ball straight back to him again, so this time he brings him down.
16 mins: Before Tel takes the second corner, Porro runs 30 yards to whisper something in his ear. Presumably an instruction to send a disappointing cross straight onto the head of the nearest defender, which Tel proceeds to carry out to the letter.
16 mins: A long cross from the right towards Richarlison leads to a corner. A long corner from the left towards Richarlison leads to a corner.
14 mins: The ball is played to Joao Palhinha, 25 yards out. Cries of “shoooot” ring out. He passes. Nothing comes of the move.
12 mins: Another pause, this time for the referee to give De Zerbi a bit of a dressing down. He has, we’re told, been wantonly straying from his technical area.
10 mins: Nearly a chance for Spurs! Porro plays Richarlison through, but the ball forces the Brazilian to pause and that gives the defence time to get back.
9 mins: Actually not a ball in the face but a hand. Randal Kolo Muani’s, to be precise. No violent intent is apparent, and Justin will be fine to carry on, now with some cotton wool up his nostrils.
8 mins: The physios are on to look at Leeds’ James Justin, who has taken a ball in the face and has a nosebleed.
6 mins: Spurs are absolutely dominating possession in these early minutes, but are yet to do anything very constructive with it.
3 mins: Some lovely passing from Spurs, who string about 20 passes together. At no point do they get the ball more than 40 yards from their own goal, though, and eventually they pass back to Kinsky, who pumps it forwards and gives it away.
1 mins: An early long throw from Leeds causes a modicum of chaos. Eventually James re-crosses and Struijk heads wide.
1 min: Peeeeep! Leeds, clad all in black (well, black and some funny blurry shapes), get the game going.
Updated
The players are out! The display of flags was a little underwhelming, only partly because if you’re watching on TV it was mostly covered up by a sequence of graphics.
Right then. The Spurs players are in the tunnel, currently on their own. Kick-off in four minutes, give or take.
Daniel Farke now gets a grilling:
Of course I’m proud [that Leeds have stayed up]. Fantastic achievement for us. I enjoyed a little bit the feeling yesterday evening when it was confirmed, but there’s an important game for us tonight and for that I am concentrated. I can’t waste 1% of energy to be over-emotional or to be in a good mood, we need to be fully focused tonight.
We have important players missing out today but it’s a chance for some others to shine and hopefully they can grab the opportunity today. They have my faith and I’m sure we can be competitive tonight.
Tottenham’s Kevin Danso has a quick chat:
To win always does the team good. We need the same today as we’ve shown the past two games and if we continue to do so we can get the three points today.
And what has De Zerbi done to turn things around?
Tweaks in everything. The mentality, buildup, the way we defend. He’s a fantastic manager, he’s proven it at many clubs, it’s just down to us to do what he asks on the pitch.
Sky are busy chatting about Arsenal’s win at West Ham yesterday, so I’m entirely reliant on still images to know what’s going on at Spurs. So, here’s Leeds doing important bouncing practice:
Looks like lots of All Together Always flags have been distributed behind one of the goals tonight, so look out for an eye-catching display when the teams come out in about half an hour.
Roberto De Zerbi has a chat with Sky:
We played very well in Birmingham [beating Aston Villa 2-1], and I think the whole idea was to keep the same first XI. But I’m lucky also on the bench I have good players.
We have to forget the last two wins. We have to keep just the same spirit, the same style of play, because we need to play football if we want another win tonight. And to be positive, but we can’t forget what the situation was two weeks ago.
He’s asked if the fact Leeds are now safe might make his team’s job a little easier:
Nothing changes, especially in the Premier League. You see Burnley against Villa yesterday – all games are very tough. To win we have to play our best, to fight, to run, to work, but to play according to our qualities. For sure, the first 10 minutes we have to start strong to [keep] the fans with us. But we have to play 90 minutes and extra time, because we are not in a condition to think we can close the game inside 90 minutes.
The teams
No messing about, here are today’s teams:
Tottenham Hotspur: Kinsky, Porro, Danso, Van de Ven, Udogie, Joao Palhinha, Bentancur, Muani, Gallagher, Tel, Richarlison. Subs: Austin, Dragusin, Bissouma, Maddison, Gray, Bergvall, Spence, Sarr, Souza.
Leeds: Darlow, Justin, Rodon, Bijol, Struijk, Stach, Ampadu, Tanaka, James, Calvert-Lewin, Aaronson. Subs: Lucas Perri, Longstaff, Piroe, Nmecha, Bornauw, Byram, Gnonto, Chadwick, Lienou.
Referee: Jarred Gillett.
Hello world! Yesterday, as a result of Arsenal’s victory over West Ham, Leeds United secured another season of top-flight football. Their battle against relegation is over. And today, freed from the stress of uncertainty as well as the drive of desperation, they visit one of now just two clubs still vying to avoid the drop. Will they now relax, and if so will that enable them to find a new, higher plane on which to play, or just drain them of all motivation?
Spurs would pick option two, thankyouverymuch. After winning their last two league games, both away from home, they are one point above West Ham, with significantly better goal difference, and with one game (this one) in hand. That goal difference means that if they manage to win today, West Ham are likely to need victories in both of their remaining fixtures, and for Spurs to win neither of theirs while losing at least one, if the Hammers are to be reprieved. It really feels like tonight might be decisive. But if it isn’t, you may need to know the two teams’ fixtures after today:
Tottenham
19 May: Chelsea (a)
24 May: Everton (h)
West Ham
17 May: Newcastle (a)
24 May: Leeds (h)
Plus those of Leeds, because they’re actually playing tonight so it would be rude not to:
17 May: Brighton (h)
24 May: West Ham (a)
Pre-match reading
Here’s David Hytner on Antonin Kinsky, the goalkeeper whose attitude has helped Spurs in fight for Premier League survival:
When Antonin Kinsky had his Madrid episode, there was an assumption that he would not play again for Tottenham this season. And maybe not the next one, either. The 23-year-old goalkeeper would have to rebuild himself elsewhere, probably on loan. Perhaps, given the scale of the horror against Atlético in the Champions League last 16 first leg on 10 March – and there really is no need to rake over the details – a permanent transfer may have been an option.
Kinsky’s comeback has been extraordinary; an inspiration to everybody at the club. With the first-choice selection, Guglielmo Vicario, undergoing hernia surgery towards the end of March, Roberto De Zerbi has counted on the Czech in each of his four matches in charge. The manager has not been let down.
Much more here: